before the beginning, it was us
by MyOTPstolemylife
Summary: Rey and Ben are trained side-by-side for years at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy. The backstory leading up to the birth of Kylo Ren. Extremely AU. You'll have to read through to see if it's reylo or not. *very few canon pieces within* Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

In between peace and war, there is stillness. Silence.

Luke Skywalker knew this well. He relied on it while he traveled the galaxy, searching for Force-sensitive beings like himself.

He wanted to start an academy, a place of training and learning, to help guide those who did not know how to control their abilities. He was to create a new generation of Jedi. Leaders, wise and powerful, to defend and protect against the Dark Side.

Of course, there were more than a few bumps in the proverbial road.

_SW_

Ben Solo was eleven years old when his parents took him to live with his uncle at the Academy. It had been established for nearly a decade, and was teeming with students, young and old, all gifted in the ways of the Force.

He felt puny in comparison.

Leia Organa-Solo, his mother, Luke's sister, always told him how special he was and how, with training, he would become a strong and powerful Jedi. He had Skywalker blood, after all. What was to stop him from achieving greatness?

First of all, he was Ben Solo. That seemed to be the biggest stumbling block. Strong in the ways of the Force, yes, but wise? Not even close. He was young, and temperamental, and gave up easily if he did not succeed immediately. His affinity for anger would be concerning for any parent to see in their child, but it terrified Leia and his father, Han. They were far too familiar with what happened when a powerful Force-wielder and unchecked anger and rage came together.

(It had only caused a galaxy-wide war or two.)

As a result of this, all of his teachers were endlessly attempting to reel him back him, keep him from reaching his utmost potential. They did it subtly, of course, but it was just enough to be bothersome to young Ben as he worked on his studies.

Second, he was quite possibly the most awkward Human in the entire universe. His too-long legs were attached to a too-long torso with too-long arms hanging at his sides. He was pale, with dark moles and freckles speckled across his face and shoulders. His ears seemed too big for his head, and his nose was slightly crooked after he broke it while play-fighting with his father. He walked faster than others, half because of the length of his stride and the other half the nervous energy he always exuded, and his arms swung along as he moved. Ben never fit into places designed for normal-sized beings. He would have to crouch down even further than his typical slouched posture or use doorways for larger species.

Third, he felt inadequate in the face of what was expected of him. To follow the legacy of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker seemed too much to ask. His parents never pressed it upon him, or even insinuated that it was what they wanted him to do, but he knew that it was. The weight of projections and unwarranted pride, simply of his heritage, settled heavily on small, thin shoulders.

_SW_

Rey didn't know what life was like outside of the endless deserts of Jakku. It was all she had seen for as long as she could remember.

Unkar Plutt had never been kind to her, making her scale and scavenge through crashed Star Destroyers that stretched long miles across the hot sands. She reported her findings to him at the end of each day, and if he didn't find them satisfactory, she went to bed without food.

That happened quite often.

Every day, before setting out across the wasteland to search for spare parts to sell, she'd tour around the marketplace she had seen a thousand times before, dressed in her outfit of all tan, her arms wrapped with thick strips of cloth to protect them from sun blisters and protruding pieces of jagged metal in the wrecks she worked on. Other children, also belonging to Plutt (he didn't sire them, he owned them, the same way he owned her), would run in circles around the various booths and stands, messing with as many trinkets as they could before being yelled at or beaten away with a dry-bristled broom. Rey was hardly ever one of those who caused trouble.

Rey's parents had left her on that God-forsaken planet two years before, and while in the back of her heart she hoped and prayed for them to return, to rescue her, she couldn't quell the burning rage she felt toward them. How could they leave behind a child, in the hands of someone like Plutt, while they went off exploring or did whatever else they wanted to do?

She did her work. She was quiet when admonished, and never cried loud enough for the others to hear. She ate what she was given—if any—and never asked for more. She put in long hours in the boiling sun, toting tarps full of salvaged equipment from starship to starship, sometimes having to use her long metal bowstaff to fight off other scavengers that were twice her size. Sometimes she lost.

The day that changed her life forever began the same as any other. She awoke before the sun, changed from her old sleeping tunic into her slightly-less old working tunic, wrapped her arms and head to shield them from the harsh rays, slipped her bowstaff (which was about two feet longer than she was tall) into three loops attached to the back of her top to hold it in place. The gauzy material of her overshirt brushed the ground, so she hastily tucked it into her leather belt and set out to visit the market.

The air felt different somehow, as she approached the square she spent the last two years haggling for decent prices and selling pieces of junk for Plutt's profit. The hair on her arms and neck prickled, each piece standing on edge. She looked around, past the old sun-weathered woman with tendrils of long, gray hair who sold chunks of sea glass dug up from the parts of Jakku that used to be filled with great oceans. Past the Rodian with a severed antennae and peeling scales, past the rows of desert speeders used by the better-paid scavengers.

Ah, there it was.

There _he_ was, to be precise.

A man, with graying hair and a beard, of average height, clothed in brown robes and beige swaths of fabric beneath. Rey knew for a fact she had never seen this man before. She would have remembered.

Power, like some sort of wave, seemed to radiate off of him. He must have sensed her staring at him openly, for he turned and locked eyes with her for a long moment. The soft blue, like the sky just before sunrise, held not a hint of evil or maliciousness. They were kind, and honest. Rey felt like sobbing. There weren't any kind or honest people left on this planet.

They all died, swallowed up by the sands that used to lie beneath their glistening seas, nearly a millennium before.

Rey didn't know much about the original people of Jakku. Maybe they were just as cheap and wicked as everyone else.

_SW_

Luke Skywalker had never felt anything like this before in his life. The Force seemed to surround him, the energy pulsing vibrantly, humming around him. In the center of it all, a small girl, with auburn hair tied up in three buns.

He knew what it meant, thought it bewildered him almost beyond belief. The Force never communicated directly; things didn't work that that. This time, though, it seemed that everything pointed to her.

He wasn't going to leave this dustball of a planet without her.

And after surprisingly little convincing, he didn't.

 **A/N: yooo its ya girl, me, back at it with another storyyyyy**

 **This piece is basically going to be an AU of Ben and Rey at the Jedi Academy throughout the years. (when I say AU, I mean very, very AU. I'm basically doing whatever I want, so you'll have to deal with it, I guess.) I don't know how long it will be, but I'm really excited because I very rarely write within the actual star wars universe, and I think it's really fun!**

 **(P.S rey and ben are going to be the same ages in this piece, because I said so.)**


	2. Chapter 2

For a long moment, it seemed that everything around her vanished. The burning sun, the waves of sand moving with the fierce wind, the plains of golden-yellow that covered the planet. For that time, it was her and the man with honest eyes.

Rey sucked in a breath as she recognized the feeling in the air—the same feeling she noticed when she willed a wrench that was just out of reach into her hands, or when she wanted the boys who picked on her to trip over a toolbox and then the toolbox would slide right into their path. It wasn't a bad feeling, it was strong, and mysterious, and she was certain she could never understand it or use it for more than simple tasks.

It was magical.

The man took a step toward her, and the sweltering world of Jakku rushed back, causing her to turn away as the sun nearly blinded her. She felt cemented to the sand, watching with weariness as he made his way to her. Her small fist tightened around her bowstaff as he knelt before her; he appeared harmless, but no one was, truly.

"Hello," He said, his voice soft, his smile kind. "I'm Luke Skywalker. What's your name?"

 _Skywalker_ sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. "Rey," she replied, her chin lifted high.

"Just Rey?"

"Just Rey."

Luke chuckled, lowering his head for a moment, as if in thought. "Well, 'Just Rey', I have a question for you." He traced his fingers through the sand, scratching out what looked like random scribbles to her, and asked quietly, "Are you aware that you are a very special girl?"

Rey laughed aloud, stepping away from him. _He must be crazy_. "Sir, how could I be special? I was abandoned by my parents on this dust-ball planet, forced to work for a master who denies me food and water more times in a week than I can count! How can I be special, if no one in the galaxy cares about me?" She had started to raise her voice as she spoke, attracting glares from the vendors surrounding the two of them in the marketplace. Rey trained her eyes on the ground and whispered, "I'm not special. I'm no one."

A century seemed to pass before he stood, his long robes brushing up small clouds of sand with the movement. She turned her face away, waiting for him to leave.

He didn't.

Instead, he placed one hand on her shoulder and said firmly, "Your parents were selfish fools. You, Just Rey from the dust-ball planet, have more potential and special-ness than everyone else in this star system _combined_." This caused a small smile to cross her face, and he continued. "If you don't believe me, hold out your hand. Concentrate. Reach with your mind. Forget your surroundings. Look within yourself. Do you sense it?"

Rey felt _…something._ It seemed like small vibrations surrounded her, humming at different pitches, some loud, some quiet. The more she focused, the more acute the feeling became. All at once, it crashed down on her. Warmth. Cold. Sorrowful weeping, cheerful laughter, angry shouts. Lies of shady traders and truth from terrified hostages. Love. Hate. Good. Evil.

They were all connected somehow, draped down over her like a loosely woven net, permeating her thoughts and touching every cell and nerve. She felt the great power and heat from the suns above her, the deep rumbling from the core of the planet, every grain of sand as it shifted over the surface. She felt the chill, the damp winds from the seas that used to crash over the wastelands, filled with exotic creatures, long extinct, each with a distinctive song that reverberated through her bones.

Luke removing his hand from her shoulder drew her back from whatever she had just experienced. She gasped for breath, feeling a cold sweat across her forehead and palms. "What was that?!" She looked up incredulously, half shocked and half bewildered. "What just happened? What did you do to me?"

"Rey, breathe." He held his hands up in surrender. "You just had an encounter with the Force. It's the energy force that flows through the galaxies, through every living being. It ties us all together; we are bound to one another, each planet, every star. The energy is created by all lifeforms. It's in all of us, but some, like you and me, we are stronger than most. We can learn to use the Force to help others." He paused, hoping against hope she wouldn't laugh in his face again. This girl was _exceptional_ , the Force seemed to glow around her. "I have an academy where I train people like us. I show them how to use their abilities for the benefit of others, and of the galaxy. I think you would fit in very nicely there, Rey. You are very gifted. You could grow into a very powerful Jedi."

 _Jedi_ rang a bell immediately. "A Jedi? Like, those warriors with the swords made of light that defeated the Empire? The woman who weaves clothing for the children tells stories. I didn't know they could be true." Rey couldn't help the excitement that bubbled up inside her, she bounced on her toes in anticipation. "Will I get a laser sword, Jedi Luke? Oh, can I please, _please_ —"

"There is much more to being a Jedi than just wielding a lightsaber. It comes with patience and self-control, as well as years of training and practice. You must devote yourself to the Force, let it fill you and flow through you. I think you can do it. Do you?"

"Yes! Yes, I will be the greatest Jedi there ever was!" She felt silly with joy. There was no way this could be real! "I will become the most wise Jedi and I will defeat all the evil in the galaxy! I'll come back here and free all the kids I live with and put Plutt in jail for the rest of his life!" She paused, her enthusiasm waning. _"I'm_ the only special one here, right? No other kids are coming with us?"

Luke pinned her with a withering look. "Rey, that is not kind, Jedi-like behavior. We want the best for _all_ lifeforms. Unfortunately, I can't take any others back with me, not now." He extended his hand toward her, his glare fading to an easy smile. "Do you have anything you need to gather before we leave?"

"All I own is on my back," She explained, pointing to the bowstaff. "Tell me more about your academy for the Jedi. I want to know everything."

"Good thing it's a long trip back there," he replied with a chuckle. "It'll take a while to explain it all."

Rey shrugged, already tugging on his hand to get moving. "Now that I don't have to work, I have all the time you'll need."


	3. Chapter 3

Ben Solo faced a dilemma.

He didn't like to whine and act like a baby, but he also didn't like when things didn't go his way.

He expected his uncle to be waiting for him upon arrival—he was the Grand Master of the Academy, after all. Doesn't he greet all of his new students? Plus, Ben hadn't seen him in close to four years and missed the man who helped him feel like he wasn't crazy once small objects started to float it he thought about them for too long.

Instead, he was disappointed to see a teacher named Terra waiting on the ground when his father's ship touched down. She wore her long blonde hair in braids, twisted across the back of her head. She had nearly invisible eyebrows and pale purple eyes and lips. He had met her once or twice before and she was nice enough, but she wasn't his uncle. (Ben always thought she smiled too much, thought he'd never say it.)

"Hello, Ben, Mr. Solo!" She called out to them as the father and son made their way down the landing ramp. Chewie appeared behind them a moment later, catching Terra off guard. It was obvious that she hadn't been expecting a seven-foot-tall _beast_ to descend after her colleague's family members. She recovered quickly and plastered on that too-big smile. "Why, you must be Chewbacca! Master Luke has told me so much about all of your adventures together! Surely you two wouldn't mind staying for dinner once we get young Ben here all settled in?"

"That's up to the big guy," Han Solo replied with a grin, knocking Ben's shoulder with his fist. "But I can always eat, and that goes for Chewie, too." His hairy companion growled his agreement.

Terra looked at Ben with her pastel eyes, which weren't as cool-toned as he remembered. He looked away. She offered him a small smile of understanding and continued talking with his dad while they walked toward the compound. "Master Luke is out on a recruiting mission right now and I'm sure he will grovel relentlessly for your forgiveness once he returns. From what I comprehend—and by that I mean, what I was able to discern from the choppy hologram message he sent, all the way from the reaches of the Outer Rim—he has found an extremely gifted student. He was so excited he was almost tripping over his words, which doesn't happen often. He was going on and on about what an asset she'll be and how he believes she and Ben will get along swimmingly." She placed a hand on his shoulder, and quickly removed it as he flinched at the contact. "She's about your age, Ben. Master Luke said the two of you could be sparring partners or—"

"If 'Master Luke' has so much to say, why couldn't he be here, saying it to me now? Instead he's off in the middle of nowhere with some random girl he found on some random planet! He's MY uncle, not hers!" Ben exploded with words of anger and hurt, his chest heaving and his young face bright red. He grunted and turned away in shame, wincing as his father smacked him on the back of the head.

"Benjamin Solo! It's not the nice lady's fault your Uncle Luke isn't here! Hell, it's not even Uncle Luke's fault! Now you need to get control of yourself and realize not everything in the galaxy is about you." Han sighed, running a hand over his tired, ragged face. The beginnings of a five-o'clock shadow were evident. "I know your mother's spoiled you for most of your life, but like we talked about on the ride over here: the universe and its problems are a lot bigger than you and me. Which means _you_ gotta be bigger than _those_ problems so you can solve 'em. Just don't let your own issues get in the way."

Ben nodded quickly, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek to distract from the pain in his head and in his heart. "I'm sorry," he whispered, clenching his fist. "Can I go look around now, please?"

"Of course," Terra answered before Han could get another word in. "Feel free to explore all the ruins and training grounds. Be careful if you climb on something because the stones can get slippery with the moss and rain. I'll stay and bore your father with all the details!" She waved to him as he took off across the field toward the forest—or was it a jungle? It seemed hot and humid enough to be the latter. He didn't bother looking back.

Yavin IV seemed like endless green compared to the skyscrapers and air traffic he was used to on Coruscant, not to mention there were live animals, hopping from tree to tree or slithering across the damp ground. Back home, most animals were kept in cages in seventy-story buildings where the only flora they saw were small pieces of artificial grass purchased from the breeders.

Ben knew it was foolish to rush into the mass of tall, thick trees without a clue of where he was going or how he would get back, but in that moment, he didn't care. Not at all.

He was angry. Hurt. Upset. He was angry he had to be at the Academy in the first place, hurt that his favorite—well, only—uncle hadn't even bothered to show up, and upset because his father punished him without even pausing to consider the chance that his son's feelings might be valid and justified. He wanted to go numb. Feel nothing. At least for a little bit.

All he cared about was the feeling of fresh air in his lungs and the squish of mud beneath his boots and the strange squawks of creatures he couldn't see and would probably run away from when he did. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and pillowy clouds were scattered here and there. Even thought he resented his parents for sending him away and he resented his uncle for not even being there to see him, he thought maybe he could make a life here, surrounded by the beautiful land. Whether or not he wanted to, he would have to. He would be living on that moon with other trainees he had never met for the next ten or so years of his life.

The thought terrified him, being away from what he had known for so long, but there was a inkling of curiosity that cut through all the doubt. If he was strong enough to live on his own, without his mother to 'spoil' him, if he could get through Uncle Luke's grueling teaching and training, if he could stick it out and become the Jedi everyone expected him to be, he could survive anything.


	4. Chapter 4

For never having been on a ship, let alone been on a ship in space, traveling at lightspeed, Rey thought she handled herself very well.

She claimed the rear storage compartment of the bulky freighter as her 'space', trying and failing to recreate what she had experienced back on Jakku. She kept getting distracted by gleeful thoughts of imagining Plutt's reaction when he found out she was gone, feeling queasy from the insane speed they were going, and worrying about what she would find when she got to the Jedi Academy.

"What if they all hate me?" She asked R2-D2, Jedi Luke's blue and silver astromech droid, when he rolled past. He stopped and pivoted to face her. Shooting out a string of whistles, he shifted from side to side, his dome top swiveling every now and then. "All the other kids training to be Jedi! Who else?" Rey sighed, placing her head in her hands. "I'm going to be horrible." R2 trilled, his old joints sounding like rubber being stretched out as he moved. "Easy for you to say! You're a droid. What would you know about controlling the Force?" He let out a shriek and raced away, knocking into and bouncing off of a row of barrels. "Wait, R2!" She called out, standing and running after him. "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" She chased him around the dark interior of the freighter for the better part of twenty minutes, cursing quietly as he maneuvered around storage bins and crates filled with kriff-knows-what.

"Everything alright back here?" Luke asked, entering the room quietly. R2 immediately ground to a halt, causing Rey to ram into him and fall on her back. He tootled triumphantly and rolled away, earning a dirty look from Luke while he helped Rey to her feet. "Are you okay? What in the blazes were you two doing back here!"

Rey laughed to herself as she smoothed loose hairs away from her face. _I just got here and he's already going to send me back_. "I hurt the droid's feelings, apparently, and he wouldn't stop running away so I could apologize." She grunted and sat back down on the grimy metal floor. "If you want to turn the ship around and take me back, I understand. I tend to be more trouble than I'm worth." She glanced up sharply as she heard muffled laughter. He was laughing at her and trying to hide it! "What? What's so funny?"

"You honestly think I would send you back just because you chased my dumb old astromech droid around this wide-open cargo hold? No! I find it hilarious, actually." He gave her a hand and pulled her up. "I'm not sending you back, Rey. Unless you want to go, of course." He grinned as she shook her head violently, her loosened buns swaying with the movement. "I didn't think so. Why don't you come up to the cockpit and I'll show you the Skywalker way to fly a ship, hmm?"

Rey couldn't help the smile that spread on her face. "I'd like that."

_SW_

Her very first impression of Yavin IV—"the fourth moon of that orange-red gaseous planet you see over there. This used to be a secret base for the Rebel Alliance, back when I was younger. Now it's the Academy."—was that it was very, very green. In fact, from where they orbited, waiting for clearance to descend, it looked like a blob of green paint suspended in space. Or what green paint might look like, had she ever seen it. As they picked up speed moving through the atmosphere, Rey felt like she was being plunged into her dream world. Tall trees quickly came into focus as they rushed past verdant fields and over sparkling streams that wove their way through the jungle back to a large pool to the far side of the ruins Jedi Luke had pointed out.

"By the way," He said as he carefully positioned the craft for landing, his hands skillfully moving across the control console, "you don't have to call me 'Jedi Luke'. You can call me either Master Luke or just plain old Luke. Your choice."

Rey mulled it over for a long minute, nearly falling from her chair as the ship jostled upon contacting the ground. She steadied herself, ignoring Luke's I-warned-you smirk. "I think I should call you Mean Luke. It suits you best."

He let out a heavy sigh as he crossed the ship to grab his satchel and robe from the cargo hold, Rey trailing closely behind. When they reached the exit doors, he handed her the only belonging she had brought with her, the bowstaff. "We'll have to see about getting you some clothes," he explained over the hiss of the hydraulics lowering the heavy platform. "I'm sure some the older girls will have some they've grown out of."

The air hitting her in the face felt like she had just been sprayed with water. (It had only happened once, as a prank, but she never forgot the feeling—even if it had cost her two days of water rations.) It was hot on this planet, too, but not in the same way. Even though the sun was shining brightly, Rey didn't think her skin would blister the moment she stepped out in it, or that her eyes and mouth would dry out in she left them uncovered for too long. As the steam cleared, she was shocked to find a group of people waiting for the two. Or, more likely, waiting for Luke, as he was the headmaster of the Academy. She was just a little girl with a too-tall bowstaff and angry eyes—or so the old weaver on Jakku told her time and time again. Standing in the warm light, their clothes getting ruffled around by a light breeze, there was a woman with golden blonde hair and wide, friendly smile, a jaunty looking man with a crooked nose and ash brown hair, a tall Wookie with a bandolier across his chest, and boy about her age with dark curls and pale skin.

"Hello, hello!" Luke moved faster than Rey had seen him in the whole time she had known him—granted, it was about half a day with the space travel—as he went to embrace them. "I've missed you all so dearly! Oh, goodness, Ben! You've gotten so big! You're almost as tall as Chewie now!" He reached down and pinched the kid—Ben—'s cheek, which he wretched away from, blushing, but he did seem to hug longer and tighter than anyone else.

Rey stood on the platform for a few minutes, awkwardly holding tight to her bowstaff, feeling like everyone had seen her but chose to ignore her. Everyone except the boy. While the adults spoke, he made his way over to her, his face pinched, as if he were physical discomfort. "Um, I'm Rey." She said quietly, not really caring if he heard her or not.

"Yeah, I know." He dragged his amber brown eyes over her, his brown crinkled and arms crossed. "I don't like you."

"Excuse me?" she scoffed, hopping down to be face to face with him. He towered several inches above her, so she grabbed his shoulder and forced him down to eye level with her. "You don't even know me!"

He yanked his body away, his whole face red, even his ears, which seemed slightly bigger than they should have been. Now that she could see his face more easily, she noticed his nose was that way too. He had dark moles and freckles and downturned lips. "I don't need to know you," he sneered quietly, his voice low enough that the adults wouldn't overhear. "I know you stole my uncle away from me. He hasn't stopped talking about you. And now, I don't like you."

"I'm so hurt," she lied, rolling her eyes and shouldering past him, grinning as she heard his arm collide with the hard metal of the exit ramp. She moved beside Luke, forcing a small smile as he introduced her to everyone else—Terra, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and ("Oh, I'm sure you will be the best of friends!") Ben Solo, Luke's nephew.

As she listened to complete strangers ramble about their lives, where they lived in absolute luxury, compared to her, she realized something: if bratty rich boys were the worst part of the Academy, she would be just fine.


End file.
